Homemade Baby Food

I decided to try out making my own baby food, and it was actually really easy and fun. I used the website wholesomebabyfood.com as a reference for different food ideas, recipes, and instructions on how to prepare the foods. If you want to try making your own food, I would recommend checking it out.

To make your own baby food you're going to need a food processor, or some sort of thing to mash up the food. I used one of these.

And one of these.
Seriously, a fork works really well on some foods and it's a lot easier and cleaner. And when your babies are older they can handle more chunks so a fork works well for that too.

The first recipe I tried was mixed veggies. With all recipes you want to make sure that the fruits and vegetables that you use are as fresh as you can get. They will taste better and have more vitamins and minerals. The website above talks about different ways to prepare each food. I baked the sweet potatoes...

Steamed, chopped up carrots...

And I actually just used frozen corn and warmed it up. And I used canned tomato sauce. Here's the recipe. I just kinda made it up as I went along and ended up liking it. You could add any other veggies and different amounts depending on what your baby likes.

Mixed Veggies

• 2 Carrots
• 1 Sweet Potato
• 1/2 - 1 Cup Corn
• 4 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce
• Water

Prepare and mush all vegetables separately. Mix all together in one bowl. Add water till you reach desired consistency.

Once you have the baby food the way you want it, you can put it in a container in the refrigerator to use within the next few days, or you can freeze for longer storage. To freeze, the easiest thing is to divide up the food into ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap, and freeze. Each of the individual ice cube pockets holds about 1 oz of food, so once the food is frozen, you'll have conveniently divided 1 oz portions of food. Once the cubes are frozen, move to a freezer plastic bag for more permanent storage. When you're ready to use the food, just get a few cubes from the freezer and thaw.

Sweet Potato Pie

• 1 Sweet Potato
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon of Cinnamon or Pumpkin Pie Spice
• Apple Juice

Prepare and mush sweet potatoes, add spices to taste, and apple juice till you reach desired consistency. You can refrigerate or freeze.

The next recipe I made used lentils. Lentils are one of my new favorite foods; they are so good for you and so cheap. Lentils are high in protein, fiber, and iron. They are on best foods lists for both babies and adults. I based this baby food recipe on a sausage and lentil soup recipe I made once. You should definitely give it a try. I know it looks disgusting, but it is delicious. It has some spices in it, like the sweet potato pie recipe. Spices are okay for older babies (8 months and up) and are a good idea for helping your child to like different flavors.

Lentil Stew

• 1/4 Cup Lentils (Brown)
  
• 2 Cups Water
• 1 teaspoon Chicken Bullion
  
• 1/8 teaspoon Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon Tomato Sauce

Rinse lentils and remove loose shells, drain. Mix water, and remaining ingredients. Add lentils and boil for 20 - 25 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Most if not all of the water will be evaporated so be careful to watch it. Cooking times and water amounts may vary according to type of lentils. Check the package instructions, that's where I got the water amount and cooking time. Once the lentils are cooked and tender, mush them up and add water till you reach desired consistency.

All of these recipes have been child tested. My son loves them.